Piano-action



Patented May l6, I899.

M. STEINERT.

PIANO ACTION.

(Application filed June 27, 1898.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MORRIS STEINERT, OF NElV HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

PIANO-ACTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 625,127, dated May 16, 1899 Application filed June 27,1898. Serial No. 684,545. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, MORRIS STEINERT, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have inventeda new Improvement in Piano-Actions; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawing constitutes part of this specification, and represents a view in vertical section showing one form which a pianoaction constructed in accordance with my in- Vention may assume.

My invention relates to an improvement in piano-actions, and is particularly designed for the actions of upright pianos, although features of it are applicable to the actions of square and grand pianos, the object of my invention being to transform the piano of today from a pure instrument of percussion, which it may now be said to be, to an instrument in which the strings are excited in vibration by a stroke rather than by a blow and by means of instrumentalities which secure for all of the tones produced by the piano, whether loud, medium, or soft, a sympathetic quality, according to the temperament of the performer. By means ofmy improvement crescendo, diminuendo, portamento, legato, and color and tone effects of great beauty may be produced by players of ordinary experience.

A distinguishing feature of my improved instrument is the surety with which it responds in clear tones to a most delicate manipulation of the keys, in which respect my piano is distinguished from most pianos of the prior art, which while being played ever so softly require a sufficient blow upon the keys to overcome the inertia of the action and strike thestrings.

'With these ends in View my invention consists in a piano-action having certain details of construction and combinations of parts, as willbe hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the embodiment which I have chosen for the illustration of my invention the key A is provided in the usual manner with a fly B, secured in place by a screw B and provided with an adj usting-screw B The fly carries at its rear end a jack 0, having a recoil-face C coacting with a regulating-screw C mounted in a regulating-screw rail C The upper end of the jack coacts with ashort operating face D, formed in the rearwardly-projeotiug lower end of the balance-lever D, which is pivotally supported by abutt D secured to the top of the balance-lever rail D The operating-face D is located between guard-fin gers D and D which prevent the displacement of the upper end of the jack, either forward or back. The said balance-lever is provided, as shown, with a counterweight D, which is regulated in weight and located so as to balance the lever system and secure its prompt action under the influence of the key. A light spring D coacts with the forward edge of the balance-lever and is employed for holding the same in its normal position, in which it is shown. The upper end of the balance-lever is formed with a slot 01 for the reception of a pin E, located in the lower end of the hammerlever E which is thus jointed, as it were, to the balance-lever. The said hammer-lever is hung in a butt E secured to the upper face of the hammer-rail E, which also has secured to it a back-check butt F, carrying a backcheck lever F, which is operated by means of a back-check lifting-rod F mounted at its lower end in an inclined position in the key A. The said back-check lever receives the lower end of the wire G, which supports the the back-check proper, G, which coacts with a buffer H, carried bya wire 11, horiz' 'iitally arranged and extending at its rear end into the hammer-head I located at the upper end of the hammer-lever E The hammer I is mounted upon a hammer-arm I, the lower end of which is entered into the said hammer-head 1 It will be noted that the balance-lever and hammer-lever are located in about the same vertical line, which also intersects the hammer, the arm of which is for the most part located forward of the said line. The damper-head J is mounted upon the up per end of a damper-arm J, which is checked in its action by the damper-check rail J The said arm is mounted in the upper end of the damper-lever J hung in a butt J se cured to the upper face of the damper-rail J The lower end of the damper-lever J carries a damper-tail J coacting with a buffer J carried by the guard-finger D of the balancelever D.

In the normal position of the action the jack' is engaged, as shown, with the extreme rear end of the operating-face D. lVhen now the key is depressed and the jack lifted, the balance-lever will be turned on its pivot and its rear end lifted, while its upper end is thrown forward with the effect of causing the hammer-lever to be swung so that the hammer will be moved rearward until it strikes its string. By this time the jack will have passed rearward over the operating-face D and into engagement with the rear end thereof, so that, if desired, the hammer may be held close to the string and caused to repeatedly strike it with great rapidity by striking the key without at any time allowing the same to entirely recover. Inasmuch as the action is balanced by the employment of the balance-lever, very little power is required for operating the hammer, which not only responds to very delicate and, as it were, hesitating manipulations of the key without ever failing to cause the key to act and produce.

thedesired tone, but also and on account of the leverage of the parts enables the hammer to be operated to strike the string with great power and in such a way as to excite it into a high pitch of vibration and so as to produce a tone quite different in its sustaining power and quality from the loud short-lived tone produced by the quick harsh vibrations induced by the full high-pressure blow which is delivered upon a string by a hammer acted directly or substantially directly upon by a jack, as in the ordinary pianoforte. \Vhen the finger is entirely removed from the key of my improved action, of course the jack drops back into the position in which it is shown by the drawing. It will be noted that the operating-face D is relatively short and slightly convex, a construction under which the performer is enabled to very closely control the action of the jack and hammer.

I wish particularly to point out that by the employment of a pin-and-slot connection between the balance and hammer levers or some connectien of equivalent character I am enabled a change the character of the impact of the hammer upon the key from a blow to a stroke, with some loss, perhaps, of dynamic power, but with a gain in the power residing in the hammer of producing those vibrations which produce the most beautiful and sustained tones. Although the connection thus established between the hammer and balance levers is flexible, it is yet so far positive that there is no appreciable loss of motion, and hence no sacrifice of promptitude of action,

so that my improvement is capable of responding to the most exacting demands of repetition in compositions calling for rapid and brilliant playing and displays of that kind of virtuosity. It is apparent that, if desired, I may employ this mode of connecting the hammers and balance-levers of square and grand piano actions, and I do not limit its use to upright actions.

In view of the modifications suggested and of others which may obviously be made I would have it understood that I do not limit myself to the exact construction herein shown and described, but hold myself at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a piano-action, the combination with the key and jack thereof, of a balance-lever provided with an operating-face with which the jack coacts, and a hammer-lever having its lower end jointed to the upper arm of the balance-lever so that when the balance-lever is actuated by the jack, the hammer is caused to strike the string a positive blow, but a blow under the restraint and control of the balancelever.

2. In an upright-piano action, the combination with the key thereof, of a jack sup ported by the key, a balance-lever having its lower arm formed with an inclined operatingface which is located between two guards and coacting with the upper end of the jack, and a hammer-lever having its lower end flexibly connected with the upper end of the balancelever which positively actuates the hammerlever but is never disconnected therefrom.

3. In an upright-piano action the combination with the key thereof, of a jack supported by the key, abalance-lever having its lower arm extended rearwardly and formed with an inclined operating-face with which the upper end of the jack coacts, and ahammer-lever located above and substantially in line with the upper arm of the balance-lever and having its lower end jointed thereto so that when the balance-lever is actuated by the jack, the hammer is caused to strike the string a blow under the restraint and control of the balance-lever.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MORRIS STEINERT. lVitnesses:

FRED. C. EARLE, GEORGE D. SEYMOUR. 

